After four weeks of being firmly planted in 2014, I finally created my 2014 goal list. Why the wait? Well, you have to be in a certain state of mind to make a goal list. For me, that state of mind is a clean, take-on-the-world type feeling. That feeling, plus a little bit of free time {never a bad thing}, finally presented itself to me today.
I love goal lists because they allow you to start over with a blank canvas. Your goal list is essentially a road map to being the person you want to be — and I happen to like to break that ultimate goal down into annual chunks. With this printable goal list, though, you can break down your goals however you’d like — by weeks, months, years, or decades. I’m all for whatever works for you!

You can either make goals alone, with a friend, or with your significant other. When I first began writing goals as a teenager, I always created goals with my {very motivated} friend Elaine. We promised ourselves to do well on our college entrance exams, try to be optimistic about ourselves and the world in general, and drink more water, among many other things. Having Elaine there helped me to think through my goals via explaining them to her, which forced me to come up with a real plan to achieve them. That’s part of the trick to making good goals: explaining to yourself or to someone else exactly how you are going to reach your goal/s.

The other tricks are as follows:

Make sure you are writing goals that you actually want to achieve. It is said that Benjamin Franklin never achieved number thirteen {humility} of his thirteen virtues/life goals because humility was something a friend suggested Franklin work on — more about that here. Though being less arrogant sounded good to Franklin in theory, in practice his heart wasn’t in it.

Break your goals up into “digestible” pieces. If you want to be President of the United States, you’ll probably need to start by doing well in your courses. Then you’ll need to go to law school, become a governor, etc. etc. Only after years of goal-setting can you write “Become President of the United States” on your goal list — and that’s after a year or two of writing campaign goals.

Think about habits you have that you would really like to break. This can be smoking, saying “like” too much, biting your nails, whatever. If you really want to kick the habit, write it down.

Thing about habits you don’t have that you would really like to pick up. Working out/exercising is probably the top contender here. I always try to drink more water, be more patient, and eat more fresh fruits and vegetables.

Check in every month to see how you are doing. Check out your goal list and ask yourself what you have done to achieve your goals. You can also arrange to do a mutual check-in with a friend.

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